Conversely, the editing shifts to choppy and frantic for the increasingly frequent horrific hallucinations and flashbacks of Dead as Euronymous’s untreated PTSD intensifies, carrying that progression to an even greater degree than Culkin’s straightforward performance. The structural editing is sound overall, while the momentary editing is organically loose to allow the narrative beats and dialogue to breathe. Lords of Chaos is also surprisingly skilled from a technical perspective. These foolish decisions just happened to lead to horrific deaths. Overall, the most consistent point the writing attempts to make is to bluntly remind the audience just how young these musicians were - they’re kids, still leaning on their parents for help and finding their way in the world, with all the foolish decisions that entail. While the performance verges on comically evil at times, it could equally be said that the man is comically evil, so this is less of a problem than I expected. The foul metamorphosis of the character from nervous fan to budding fascist to violent lunatic is nothing short of terrifying, and Cohen brings weight and intensity to every scene, even when he’s being roundly and justly mocked by the journalists of Bergens Tidende in one of my favorite scenes of the film 2. The standout performance, however, is possibly Emory Cohen’s 1 Cachet. Jack Kilmer brings a deeply unsettling whimsicality to Dead, while Rory Culkin’s Euronymous elicits incredible pathos as he fumbles through trying to bring his band and career to success even as he struggles with PTSD induced by Dead’s suicide, and even more as he is slain by Mssr. Dead’s suicide, in particular, is tragic, accompanied only by a voicemail from his father.įurther assisting all of the above are an impressive set of performances. Each is presented with solemnity and gravitas in the camera staging and complete silence from the score. The deaths, in particular, stand out sharply from the rest of the film.
Conversely, as we dive into acts two and three and the Norwegian black metal scene’s ever-deepening obsession with the authenticity of their evil, levity grows far less frequent. The first act features its share of somber moments, with Dead’s goading Euronymous to shoot him standing out strongest, but is overall rather madcap (as befits the self-serious absurdity of Second-Wave Black Metal). Each is in turn marked by a distinctive tone, each successively darker and grimmer.
Though a music biopic in the most technical sense, Lords of Chaos exhibits an unusual level of craft in its attention to the tone of its storytelling each act is clearly demarcated, punctuated by a death (Dead’s suicide, the murder of Magne Andreassen by Faust, and the murder of Euronymous by Louis Cachet, respectively). Particular care is paid to theme and tone in their framing, but there are elements of the technical and narrative sides of filmmaking worth noting as well. It’s an ugly story, as most of our readers know, but gripping all the same, and Jonas Åkerlund (ex- Bathory) and his team tell it deftly. I have also chosen to not concern this review with the veracity of either the original book or this film these concern me less than the approach to narrative and character.īased on “truth, lies, and what actually happened,” Lords of Chaos paints the story of the life and times (and deaths) in the tale of Mayhem founder and black metal legend Euronymous. Instead, I have chosen to refer to him by his (absurd) present legal name, Louis Cachet. Author’s note: For reasons of not-enabling certain individuals unworthy of enabling, V**g V*k*rnes’s stage name has been redacted from this review.
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